By editor1
Publication Date: 2026-08-23 22:39:00
By Brandi Makuski
Tuesday’s Portage County Board meeting exposed a breakdown in a process that should be routine: appointing citizens to county committees.
County Executive Eric Olson submitted an appointment to the Local Emergency Planning Committee without a resume, letter of interest, or any other background information on the person he was asking supervisors to confirm.
The appointment had already passed through the Executive Operations Committee, or Ex-Ops, earlier this month without discussion. It then reached the full County Board with essentially the same lack of information.
That’s where the process fell apart.
Supervisor Matt Jacowski searched the appointee’s name and found a person with the same name and a Portage County address who was convicted in 2019 of serious felonies, including conspiracy to manufacture or deliver more than 50 grams of methamphetamine. That person was sentenced to more than five years in prison and also was convicted of…
